Test squad calling as Swepson achieves post-war first

Leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson further pushed his strengthening case for a Test squad call-up with his third five-wicket bag in as many innings that spearheaded Queensland’s ruthless domination of South Australia.

After Matthew Renshaw (168no) and Jimmy Peirson (109, his maiden first-class ton) put SA's bowlers to the sword on day two of their Marsh Sheffield Shield match, Swepson snared the key wicket of Test vice-captain Travis Head (37) late in the day.

Swepson gained fizzing turn on a pitch that had offered nothing to the Redbacks attack, most notably their young leg-spinner Lloyd Pope who bore the brunt of the Bulls’ assault, before SA collapsed in a forgettable final hour, losing 7-34 in less than 16 overs after Head's dismissal.

It means SA will resume on day three at 9-154, trailing Queensland's first innings by a vast 342 runs, with Callum Ferguson (11 not out) still unbeaten in his final first-class game with the potential for thunderstorms during the day.

Swepson's return of 5-55 from 24 overs today followed the 5-97 and 5-74 he snared in Queensland's narrow loss to New South Wales last week.

It makes him the first leg-spinner to take five-wicket hauls in three consecutive Shield innings since former Test spinner Bill O'Reilly did it four times on the trot in 1939-40.

Swepson benefited from a couple of contentious umpiring calls, with Head clearly of the view the ball delivered from wide of the crease and around the wicket had struck him outside the line of the stumps, and teenage all-rounder Liam Scott smashed a ball into his bat but was adjudged lbw.

However, there was no conjecture over Swepson's first scalp, a flighted delivery that enticed left-handed opener Conor McInerney to drive before it spun sharply past the inside edge and rattled leg stump.

And the ball that removed tailender Wes Agar – drifting across the right-hander from over the wicket before breaking past his speculative bat to clip the top of off-stump – would likely have troubled any top-order batter in the world.

The 27-year-old is clearly the leading wicket-taker for the current Shield season with 20 at an average of 18 from five innings and seems certain to be included in the expanded Australian squad for the four-Test Vodafone Series against India that is expected to be named later this week.

Given the COVID19 restrictions in place, Australia will require a back-up for incumbent off-spinner Nathan Lyon and it's difficult to imagine selectors won't have the Queenslander's name in their notebooks.

While Swepson dominated the day, the good news story was the return of injury-plagued quick Brendon Doggett who picked up three wickets – including SA's in-form opener Henry Hunt in his first over of the game – in just his second match for the Bulls in the past two years.

It was fitting that in NAIDOC Week, which began with all Shield teams honouring Indigenous culture by participating in a Barefoot Circle before play began on Sunday, that Doggett (a descendant of the Worimi people) claimed his first Shield wicket in two years.

While the Bulls’ daunting total was founded upon captain Usman Khawaja's characteristically classy 131 on day one, the flourish was provided by Renshaw and Peirson's 199-run stand.

Renshaw had played with the sort of caution expected of a reformed Test opener, facing 185 deliveries to reach his 11th first-class hundred and his first in Shield matches since 2017-18.

But Peirson scored at a run per ball from the moment he replaced Khawaja in the middle late on the opening day, and maintained that aggressive pace from resumption this morning.

Even as he closed in on his maiden first-class century, the 28-year-old refused to embrace caution and he reached the milestone in suitably emphatic fashion, driving Agar to the extra boundary to whoops of delight from teammates sitting boundary-side.

The energetic keeper, who was forced to wait until veteran Chris Hartley hung up the gloves before assuming a regular place in the Bulls' four-day line-up, eventually fell for 109 when he miscued an attempted punch down the ground just one run shy of the pair's double-hundred stand.

It was Queensland's biggest fifth-wicket union since Chris Lynn and Hartley belted 273 against Victoria at the Gabba in 2014-15 and Khawaja opted to keep his team at the crease, allowing Renshaw and allrounder Jack Wildermuth (27no from 16 deliveries) to plunder an extra 55 runs from just five overs.

Renshaw remained unbeaten on 168, his highest score since his 170 against Victoria at the MCG in February 2018, and for the fourth time in as many games this season the Redbacks batters took to the crease facing a huge deficit.

And if the evidence presented in the first three-and-a-half rounds of their Shield campaign to date provide an indicator for what lies ahead, it won't be the last time it happens this summer.

The Redbacks are yet to capture all 10 opposition wickets in an innings this season and are currently averaging 94.3 runs per breakthrough.

To place that in an historic context, the highest average posted by a bowling attack across a full Shield season is 62.85 runs per wicket by Western Australia in the high-scoring summer of 1963-64.

Compounding those bowling woes, SA's batting has misfired in the past three first innings where they've been dismissed for 200 or less, with today's stunning collapse a nadir of the season to date.

The batting relies almost exclusively on Head, the Shield's leading run-scorer leading into this round, while their top wicket-taker is Pope, whose eight scalps have come at a cost of 84.25 apiece.

With 1-169 from 25 overs here, Pope will benefit from the upcoming break in the Shield season.

He remains the only specialist spinner in the SA squad and the Redbacks have shown a preparedness to persist with the youngster, who is not expected to reach bowling maturity for five or more years.

Despite toiling in the field for four sessions, Pope headed to the Glenelg Oval nets during today's tea break to work on his craft with reserve members of the Redbacks squad Jake Lehmann, Cameron Valente and Nick Winter.

But it's likely he gained even greater benefit watching Swepson operate as a genuine wicket-taking threat throughout SA's faltering start to their innings.

Swepson's rise through Shield ranks to the cusp of Test selection has been steady and patient, despite him being earmarked as a future Australia representative when selected for the 2017 Test series in India.

The 27-year-old is undertaking his sixth season of Shield cricket and while he's riding high with three five-fors in as many innings, he had claimed just one five-wicket haul in his previous 37 matches across more than five seasons.

"Lloyd will certainly be better for the experience and he's obviously watching Swepson as a fellow leggie," SA coach Jason Gillespie said at day's end.

"Lloyd's shown some real promise and shown some glimpses of what he can do, and the challenge for Lloyd is to string those glimpses together and be consistent.

'He's learning all the time, with his attitude to his craft and his preparation he's working really hard and developing his game.

"We've been very supportive of Lloyd and we continue to be supportive of Lloyd."